With the passage of time and continued introduction of labor-saving devices, man has found time to pursue interests not related to the mundane task of earning a livelihood. One such interest is the keeping of fish such as the well known goldfish and lesser known but more expensive, koi. As is well known however, the keeping and cultivating of fish is not without its problems. One such problem is that the man-made ponds in which the fish are kept require regular maintenance. More particularly, the water must be circulated continuously through a filtering system to remove dirt, debris and more importantly, fish waste.
Filtering systems currently in use employ one or more active filtering chambers containing a filtering media; e.g., gravel, marble chips, lava rock and mats of synthetic material. Water from the pond is pumped through the media which removes the solid matter. Further, the media supports beneficial micro-organisms; i.e., bacteria, which biologically removes undesirable material from the water and insures that ammonia and nitrite levels are maintained below toxic concentrations. In addition, it is common to employ a passive filtering settling basin in between the pond and filtering chamber to allow larger matter to settle so as not to clog the filtering media prematurely.
Whereas filtering systems as now in use are generally effective, they in turn must be cleaned on a regular basis which in some cases may be weekly. This means that the micro-organisms are repeatedly destroyed or worst, none gets established. Where more than one chamber is used, the time period between cleanings is lengthened, which permits more effective use of micro-organisms but the cleaning task becomes substantial.
Further, contemporary filtering systems having a plurality of chambers are formed as a single structure. Thus, an already installed system cannot be reduced or expanded readily nor economically.
Still another problem in contemporary filtering systems is that the micro-organisms either receive inadequate air through air stones randomly located or the bottom of the chambers or no air at all.
It is now proposed to provide a filtering system incorporating alternate flow paths so that a given chamber can be isolated and cleaned without disturbing nor interrupting the flow of water through the other chambers and the pond. It is further proposed to provide a filtering system wherein the number of chambers may be conveniently and readily reduced or increased in number and in size. It is still further proposed to provide an air manifold which may be positioned in the bottom of each chamber so that air is evenly distributed through the media harboring the micro-organisms.